EDUCATION AND ELITISM IN BRITAIN EXPO

This year, more than 170,000 teenagers found themselves left out of the schooling system and could not enter any university. This fact is all the more astonishing due to the success rate obtained at A-Levels (the equivalent of the baccalauréat in France). Indeed, 97.6% of the students obtained their A-Level (contrary to around 85% in France), but a quarter out of the 647 000 students who applied for university were not accepted. This observation is a proof of a British educational system in crisis. Nevertheless, for years, different measures have been implemented in order to improve the situation. But the system still encounters many difficulties. To what extent can we describe the British educational system for being unfair and elitist?

First of all, the main problem of British society is that it is historically elitist. * Indeed, in 1944 grammar schools were created. They were seen as providing the best teaching and were attended only by the best students selected on a test (called the eleven plus). Since the 1960s grammar schools have become independent (or public schools), they were criticized for being elitist, for creaming off the brightest students and for condemning the masses to failing comprehensive schools which were less prestigious and not selective. Moreover, students who attend state schools are less likely to enter a university because of the differences (made) observed between the A obtained in state schools and the A* obtained in independent ones. Colleges select more pupils coming from independent schools for it means that their parents can afford paying their studies, contrary to students coming from state schools, so parents can buy the success of the next generation. It also means that they received a better teaching. All parents want their children to go to independent schools because it is the most certain way to enter university. Therefore, this traditional elitism is characterized by the